20 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XV, 
generation for generation, first the main line and then the lateral 
branches. They are often voluminous works, and almost invari- 
ably reliable for the accuracy of their information 
Of the two Compositions, the genealogies are ‘undoubtedly 
the older. The custom of keeping genealogical records of the 
kings is at least as ancient as the Puranas, and that this 
custom was still in vogue at the time of the rise of the Rajput 
power in Western n India i is proved by the existence of numer- 
ous prasasti-inscriptions, dated in that period. But the 
Scat which were in existence in the early times of the 
Rajput period, whether preserved orally or graphically, monk 
have been a very modest thing, probably containing only t 
names of the Chiefs who inherited political power ‘and in no 
net going beyond the Chief who was the first to conquer the 
and and to emerge from obscurity. Thus the Udepur prasasti 
of the Paramaras of Malwa begins from Upendra, who ‘“‘b 
his bravery gained the honour of exalted kinghood”'; the 
Jodhpur pragastt of the Pratiharas of Mandora begins from the 
four brothers Bhoga Bhata, Kakka, ser Le and Dadda,; who 
h 
honorific title for tegirnied brahmins in Sanskrit, it is clear that 
in the prasasti-inscriptions it is used in a particular sense, 7.¢. 
in the sense of “ bard, or genealogist.” The genealogists of 
Rajputana, and not of Rajputana alone, even to this day are 
known under the name of ‘* Bhatas,” a word which evidently 
is but the vernacular form of bhaita. From the identity of the 
denomination it does not necessarily follow that all the Bhatas 
are of brahmin eXtraction, but what we can safely conclude is 
that the Rajputs of the early period had in their stipend 
genealogists, called bhattas or bhatas, and these were brahmins 
dh learning oes used to compose in Sanskrit poetical panegy- 
i honour of their patrons ~ their patrons’ ancestors. 
Whether sie bhattas who composed the prasastis kept regular 
genealogical records or not it is difficult to say, but from the 
Ep. SO ae — hia 
TI R.A.S., 1894; 
tae ae ay =o iga7. P 
he Citor cription o aad I > ihekels of Bye (Ep. Ind., ii, pp. 
410 ff.) shows thas 6 a3 late as t — of oe fifteenth century 
.D. prasasti  fuaiiie ons peg composed b bhattas 
